Secret US space drone X-37B returns to earth after 22 months in orbit

October 13, 2014 9:55 AM

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A secret US space drone X-37B that has been in orbit for the past 22 months will be returning to earth and landing at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Tuesday, October 14. The Orbital Test Vehicle 3 (OTV-3), third of its kind to embark on such secret missions in orbit, was launched in December 2012 aboard the Atlas 5 rocket.

Built by the Phantom Works division of Boeing, the 29-foot robotic space plane according to the US military is an experimental spacecraft that is designed for testing space technologies. The US Air Force deployed its first OTV-1 on April 2010 on its maiden mission, and it stayed in space for 225 day...